TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 24: HTV Wales continuity, 1982 and 1984

And finally... Eamonn Andrews makes for a great Santa, doesn't he? HTV always took time out on Christmas Day to pass on messages to those detained in hospital on the big day and here's two examples, Dilwyn Young Jones going through a good pile of requests in 1982, then amid twenty minutes of Christmas Day adverts and continuity Margaret Pritchard does her job two years later. The latter, we're pleased to note, features the traditional end of year Country Life Buttermen anthology at 17:49. And a happy Christmas to all our readers!

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 23: Play Away, 1980

Floella Benjamin sings ELO! Nearly all of the surprisingly pacey special with Cant, Benjamin, Delia Morgan and Alex Norton in charge, plus the Jonathan Cohen band getting their own credits.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 22: BBC1, Christmas Day 1985

Putting this together we noticed there was far more of 1985 in the original century of clips than any other year, so let's keep that up with a big day rundown followed by the mechanical robins in stanta.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 21: BBC trailers, 1993

As we all know 1993 was the year BBC1 had gotta lotta fings on, but viewers also needed specifics. A trail for the double issue Radio Times in there too. There's a promo from the Family Channel somewhere in there too, heavy on the Newhart.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 20: Boxing Day on Thames, 1983

Funny how easy it is to tell which Christmas Days between 1978 and 1983 fell on a weekend.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 19: BBC1 continuity, Christmas Day 1991

The first video features the end of Noel's Christmas Presents, the gorgeous break bumper and Miami Twice; the second reveals the festive ident was entirely tailored around the big film terrestrial premiere.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 18: Granada, Christmas Day 1988

Granada's kindly, affable Charles Foster in his best festive jumper introduces The Empire Strikes Back's TV premiere, followed by a glimpse of ITV's Look Of... concept previewing Boxing Day.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 17: Thames promos, 1981

It's December 28th so the promos are all for new year entertainment but we do see that Peter Marshall's parlour is still decorated. Also, Jim Davidson putting his head inside a whale's mouth.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 16: Thames adverts, Christmas Day 1979

Taken from a showing of Goldfinger (not the TV premiere, that was in 1976) The first video starts well with Gorden Kaye and Patrick 'Mickey Pearce' Murray on how the appliance of science apparently exists on another planet, but then devolves into a TWO MINUTE advert for the Co-Op in which the actual St Winifred's School Choir sing slightly lyrically altered (copyright reasons?) versions of traditional festive songs. The Choir's hit would be the following Christmas, so here's your chance to claim you preferred their earlier stuff. And yes, Sally Lindsay appears clearly in shot. Guinness and air fresheners complete the set. In the second pause everywhere has a post-Christmas sale, the barman in the Schweppes advert is clearly reading off an idiot board and both the Country Life Buttermen and the KP friars make welcome appearances. Following that a tiny Bernard Cribbins is sucked into a Hornby train set and the long forgotten Anthony Quinn/Christopher Lee epic Caravans hires Patrick Allen to get its important message across; and finally the trailer for Star Trek The Motion Picture is narrated by Orson Welles, Wogan flogs Vauxhalls and Weetabix is sold as some kind of fitness aid. There was another break, but we posted that last year.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 15: Tyne Tees' Today, 1994

An edited down version of the pre-Christmas special OB, partly from the usual newsroom, partly from a special living room set and partly from the Gateshead Metro Centre. The weather team seem to be demob happy in particular. (Date, anyone?)

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 14: Christmas on BBC1, 1992

Granted, it's no "gotta lotta fings on", but similarly it throws a lot of stars at you and folds them into an early CGI fantasia.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 13: Boxing Day 1990, BBC1

Starting with the voiceover suggesting perhaps correctly for the time that Russ Abbott had one joke. Toto live! In 1990! A Soviet-heavy news follows.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 12: Channel 4 closedown, Christmas Day 1986

CONTINUITY BANTER.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 11: Paul McCartney on Harty, 1983

"Bit more thrust, Russ!" Russell Harty pops by Air Studios to watch Fab Macca Wacky Thumbs Aloft and George Martin record Pipes Of Peace, allowing him to do some amateur mixing and admire Macca's thigh slapping technique at first hand. "It's the first time I've been close to you physically..."

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 10: Christmas Top Of The Pops, 1991

Not a vintage year for pop, and not a vintage year for TOTP either as the Year Zero Stanley Appel revamp cratered the show in the hands, as you see here, of Tony Dortie, Mark Franklin and Claudia Simon. Nomad, Kenny Thomas, Oceanic and the Scorpions are about the level of acts who took the call to come down to the studio.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 9: Christmas Wrapping - Radio Times

Further Christmas Wrapping: Radio Times gets Festive from Bob the Fish Productions on Vimeo.

One last set of Matthew/Applemask/Bob The Fish Productions' work as Christmas Wrapping, tracing the entire history of RT Christmas covers up to last year, from contemporary art deco to Shaun The Sheep via modernism, pop art and Michael Crawford making a face.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 8: Christmas Wrapping - Channel 4

The highlight here is the 1984 Boxing Day trail, with a baffling programme about gnomes.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 7: Christmas Wrapping - ITV

Drifting around the regions, including the deformed Central snowman, a TVS epic and an extraordinary animated trailer from 1977. Plus, the promise of Pam Ayres' Hong Kong Christmas!

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 6: Christmas Wrapping - BBC

Christmas Wrapping: the BBC Gets Festive from Bob the Fish Productions on Vimeo.

For here and the next few days we bend the knee to the great and glorious handiwork of Matthew 'Applemask' Harris and his Christmas Wrapping series of festive idents, trails and general animated trees and decorations. The selection is worth 45 minutes of anyone's time.

TV Cream Advent Calendar 2016 Day 5: Thames, Christmas Day 1978

Thames hire Kermit and Fozzy for some special festive continuity. Peter Marshall does a more relaxed job later on.